GamesCom 2013: Did Microsoft Win The Conference Showdown?

Sony and Microsoft had their conferences today, and they were as different as they were the same.

There was a lot of talking, but not a lot was actually said. Sony and Microsoft's press conferences were perfunctionary more than explosive (the latter being kept only for those in attendance) even with the announcements of PS4's release date and Microsoft's commitment to making sure that FIFA is played by every human being, ever.

Between them, both sets of executives probably said the word 'indie' more times than the phonetic equivalent in those moderately successful movies Harrison Ford starred in. Talking up the merits of smaller developers - and of their respective platform environments for them to create games in - is the latest pissing contest writ large, and in fairness the Redmond giant's desire to make sure your console is your dev kit is admirable. No certification fees is also a big change, and a positive one, and Sony's commitment to loaner dev kits - while not quite matching Microsoft's offer - is also welcome.

And then there was FIFA. A huge win for both MS and EA, it means - along with Ultimate Team Legends and other initiatives - that one of the most important games in the European market is now 'best on Xbox'. It's a win-win for both parties, too. Microsoft now has a major selling point for an audience who lives and breathes football, and EA has found a, potential, path to crank its sales figures even closer to that of Call of Duty. That's the level Electronic Arts has wanted to get FIFA to for years, completely forgetting about other games that could be seen as more 'direct' lines of competition. It's top of the pile or nothing.

Microsoft's was also the leaner of the two presentations, by some considerable margin. The US firm had two main messages, stuck to them, and got on with it. Its rival spent so much time blathering on that it felt like the PS4 should already be a year old by the end of it.

Problematic too for Sony is that its speakers aren't very interesting: killer if there's a long conference to sit through, and not great when you're trying to convey a message that your new games console is the raddest thing on the planet since plutonium-laced wrap-around sunglasses. Michael Denny looks and talks like your dad, Andrew House's voice sounds like he's got a slowly-leaking helium tank in there, and Jim Ryan looks and acts like the CEO of a successful accountancy firm who accidentally walked on stage and, too embarrassed to leave, decided to stay.

The only interesting one among them is Mark Cerny, but only because when he turns to read the autocue - looking down the lens as he does so - there's always the danger he'll snatch you into it like The Goblin King of games, and you'll have to escape by playing f**king Knack or something.

Still, the Vita stuff was cool, and an announcement of the release date is always good. In what is arguably a stark contrast to E3, though, Microsoft looked confident today.

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User Comments

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What is that big light on the front for now? Did you even watch the 3 conferences?

You seem to think I am tarring everyone with the same brush, but that isn't the case I'm targeting a specific demographic that would plague the forum. I have always understood that some people realised that they were getting what they paid for on PSN and were happy with the service, or didn't play online enough to justify the MS subscription or were deluded in thinking that the service was every bit as good as live for free but didn't shout about it. Most people would fall into this category but the type of person making noises now are the demographic I would place the "PSN is free noob tribe"

How have I 'bent over and taken one' if I have never payed to play online and am still undecided on next gen? More of your mind gymnastic logic?
Your posts were bad, because they were just plain bad; Cherry picking the worst of a fan base to support your argument. That would be like asking a random gamer why he/she threatened Hepler or me asking you why you keep swearing at everyone's mum on xbox COD. Stupid isn't it....this is how you sound.

So much stupid in your post; 'Sony's alterations were done on a wing and a prayer to the detriment of their whole ethos.' Since when has 'Sony's 'whole ethos' been based around the PSeye?

I don't know how your brain works but that's not my logic. Probably the same logic that made you bend over and take one. I have always seen the reasons behind the costs and said Sony will have to charge to progress but heard from people like yourself that it was a rip off for seven plus years.

I expected out cry, I expected emotion however what I got was an oh well and you bent over and took it and said please sir can I have another! Because you were so high on the price and anti drm statements it got slipped in without anyone batting an eyelid.

The amount of slant and bias in the first post is unbelievable;
'However at least the changes MS made were done over a period of time after gauging consumer reaction. I disagree with all of the changes none the less. Sony's alterations were done on a wing and a prayer to the detriment of their whole ethos. They were even able to sneak in the cost of playing online with no more than a blink of an eye. The amount of times I have heard PS Fan boys rant on about never paying for online is unreal yet all that faded away in an instant.'

Suddenly taking forever to make a decision is seen as a positive- even though you disagree with said decision.

Nobody outside of Sony's boardroom knows how impulsive the cost/eye decision was. Even if the decision was made post xbox conference it's ridiculous to believe it was totally on the fly. Just like any football manager many contingency strategies are made to fall back on, once the opposition shows their hand. And that's for a 90min match, this is the unveiling of a 7-10 year cycle billion dollar product launch.

Xbox has gotten away with paying for online and has similar market share to Sony. That is so much extra revenue for xbox to invest into online,support and games. Sony had no choice but to charge too or be left behind.

As a poor PS3 owner, this is still annoying for me and that's one less Pro for PS4. Obviously PS fanboys are going to stop showing off about a feature they no longer have? what did you expect.

I wouldn't say they are far superior, though when talking about games franchises it all comes down to personal opinion, I guess. I'd certainly say Xbox One has the stronger AAA support for launch, though.

Again, I don't think that matters, though. It pushes each of them to offer something unique on a regular basis besides the physical technology. I think we'll see much more of this now than last gen, with new services, free games and more on both sides.

Personally, I have games I'm looking forward to on both consoles and I couldn't see myself without either of them.

At the moment, the XBOne's disc-based releases are far superior (IMO), but... the one thing the PS4 has that tempts me is Don't Starve...

Given Klei's good relations (Mark of the Ninja, Eets, et al) with Microsoft, if DS comes to the XBO, and Sir You Are Being Hunted (Unity game, should be portable, as hinted at by Jim) along with it, that will be me sold on it. Those two indie titles.

Thanks. That helps. It certainly looks like both companies are watching each other carefully and the public reaction.

MS were certainly stronger on the key games being shown, even if the setting looked like a cavern (not that it did The Beatles any harm!).

The quick turnabout of Indie support on the MS side, or so it seems from outside, looks like a immediate reaction to Sony. But ideally they both take best practice from each other.

Some may say that this one-up-manship or copying becomes a danger that there is little difference between the two consoles, but that's rubbish. Simply the way the OS works and affects games, the way the console uses their resources, subscription services, online functions and other things all go towards a unique experience.

This also comes back to the need for more than one console. Even with similar underlying architecture, competition pushes both companies to provide better services to their customers, more content, free stuff, better exclusives etc to entice them in.

I think you are probably right about the two SKU. But to create a whole song and dance about the controller at the reveal and then drop all mention of it at E3 makes me believe that something fishy went on. If it was a photoshop render it would of taken 10 seconds to remove the layer from the box.